Morocco’s King Mohammed VI has called on the United Nations to assume responsibility and spell out the major difference between the real, legitimate world – represented by Morocco in its Sahara.
The monarch made the call at the 49th anniversary of the glorious Green March – an annual event that celebrates Moroccans’ march against the Spanish colonization of Morocco’s southern provinces.
The Green March was a mass demonstration in November 1975, coordinated by the Moroccan government and military, to force Spain to hand over the disputed, autonomous semi-metropolitan Province of Spanish Sahara to Morocco.
In a speech delivered on Wednesday, King Mohammed VI recalled that the peaceful, popular march enabled Morocco to recover the Moroccan Sahara.
Morocco’s King Mohammed VI has called on the United Nations to assume responsibility and spell out the major difference between the real, legitimate world – represented by Morocco in its Sahara.
The monarch made the call at the 49th anniversary of the glorious Green March – an annual event that celebrates Moroccans’ march against the Spanish colonization of Morocco’s southern provinces.
The Green March was a mass demonstration in November 1975, coordinated by the Moroccan government and military, to force Spain to hand over the disputed, autonomous semi-metropolitan Province of Spanish Sahara to Morocco.
In a speech delivered on Wednesday, King Mohammed VI recalled that the peaceful, popular march enabled Morocco to recover the Moroccan Sahara.
“It also strengthened the bond between that region’s inhabitants and their motherland.”
Since then, Morocco has been able to establish tangible facts on the ground as well as an irreversible reality rooted in law, legitimacy, commitment and responsibility, as evidenced by the following:
“Firstly: the strong attachment of our sons and daughters in the Sahara to their Moroccan identity, and their commitment to the nation’s sacred, immutable values, in keeping with the bond of the Bei’a, which has existed throughout history between the inhabitants of the Sahara and the kings of Morocco.
“Secondly: the progress, security and stability existing in the Moroccan Sahara.
“Thirdly: growing international recognition of the Sahara as a Moroccan territory, and the broad support the Autonomy Initiative has been receiving.”
Continuing, the monarch remarked that “parallel to this natural, legitimate situation, there is, sadly, another world disconnected from reality – a world still feeding on the illusions of the past and clinging to outdated theories and claims:
“As a result, there are some who demand a referendum, despite that option being discarded by the United Nations and the impossibility of implementing it; at the same time, the proponents of that position refuse to allow a census of the people detained in the Tindouf camps, using them as hostages, keeping them in deplorable, humiliating conditions, and depriving them of the most basic rights.
“And some exploit the Sahara issue to secure access to the Atlantic Ocean.
“To them I say this: We do not refuse such as a prospect. As everyone knows, Morocco has proposed an international initiative to facilitate the Sahel countries’ access to the Atlantic Ocean, within the framework of partnership and cooperation. The aim being to achieve shared progress for the benefit of all peoples in the region.
And there are those who exploit the Sahara issue to deflect attention from their many internal problems.
“Still, others seek to manipulate certain legal aspects in order to serve narrow political goals.
“To them as well, I say this: Morocco’s partnerships and legal obligations will never be at the expense of its territorial integrity or its national sovereignty.”